December 4, 2011

I remember when I was a child seeing the incredible Christmas cakes that my mother would make taking centre stage on the Christmas Table. When the time came to remove the ribbon, little glittery trees and Santa figurines we would all be so excited with the thought of what lay beneath the thick white icing. The disappointing reality was that under that icing was a thick layer of homemade marzipan and a fruit cake soaked in brandy and full of plump sultanas and nuts. Of course nowadays I realise that those cakes were works of art, a labour of love that my mother had spent hours preparing and mixing. As children we just presumed that these incredible cakes would be made from chocolate; but sadly no. The same went for Christmas Puddings, I so wished they were made from solid chocolate. A few days ago I got that sinking feeling when I saw a TV advert for Christmas Pudding and I realised that now that I am a grown up I can make chocolate puddings if I want, Yessssssss. And thats how these gorgeous tiffin christmas puddings came to be made. The perfect little present for the chocolate lover in your life!

Melt the butter, syrup and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a bowl of simmering water. Stir occasionally to make sure everything is melting evenly.

Crush and break the biscuits into bite size pieces, don’t worry if some bits are big as they’ll break down when you’re stirring.

Add the sultanas and nuts. Combine well with the biscuits in a large bowl.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture over and stir everything well to combine.

Spoon into the pudding bowls . Compress and flatten with the back of the spoon.

Leave to set in a cold room or the fridge before tuning out. Decorate with a cherry on top and white melted chocolate.

I added cherries to mine too. You could also soak the sultanas in brandy or rum for a few hours before using them. This tiffin recipe is from my book Make Bake Love. You'll find it in the Thrift chapter. I actually tripled this recipe and got six gorgeous puddings. You could make smaller ones by using suitably shaped teacups, just make sure you line them with cling film!

The only thing you can't do with these beauties is dowse them in brandy and set them alight!

My daughter got your really lovely cook book for Christmas. I think there is a misprint in the Baked Vanilla Cheesecake as it says 5 eggs in the recipe but does not include them in the method. Just wondering do we just put the eggs or not? If so when

Yes! The instructions for the cheesecake does leave out the eggs!!! Disaster. The recipe is an all in one method where everything just gets combined until smooth so just add the eggs to other ingredients and proceed as per the recipe. Thanks!

hi lily - great idea! How far in advance could you make these for Christmas day. Can they be frozen? Would like to make them for my brother while the rest of us tuck into traditional pudding! Many thanksJanice